4. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was not enough strength in them to weep.
5. Two of David’s wives had been taken captive. Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
6. And David was in a very precarious situation, for the people spoke of stoning him, for the souls of all the people were bitter, each one over his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.
7. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here for me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8. And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Should I pursue after this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue them, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue them.”
9. So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained.
10. David pursued, he and four hundred men; but two hundred men stayed because they were too exhausted to pass over the Wadi Besor.
11. Then they found an Egyptian man in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him food and he ate; they also gave him water.
12. They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and this revived him, because he had not eaten food or drunk water for three days and three nights.
13. Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and from where are you? The young man said, “I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago.
14. We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and that which belongs to Judah and then the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
15. So David asked him, “Will you take me down to this band of raiders?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master’s hand! Then I will take you down to this band.”